Fear of Hypertension Complications

[ZanVaelius]

With my bowel cancer fears out of the picture my brain quickly moved to a different "existential threat" to worry about. So I'm 29 and I have been undergoing treatment for Hypertension for the past 7 years or so. (though I had it for much longer) Recently thanks to actually modifying my lifestyle (I lost about 15-16 kilograms and started exercising everyday plus I went on a slightly better diet), I actually managed to reduce the dosage of medicine I have to take. So when I went on treatment my BP was 160/110 (plus I had a nasty tachycardia), but following treatment it went back to normal. Following a period of severe anxiety and agoraphobia I managed to get control of it. I was visiting a cardiologist every year (yeah I know I should do that more often and I need to start taking this more seriously). I had a heart echo some two years ago, which came out fine, EKG a month ago which was also fine, plus some 3,5 years ago I had a kidney filtration test which also came out fine, my potassium was okay, my sodium a bit low, but still within norm (136). So during my learning about my bowel prep I accidentally discovered all the wonderful stuff about hypertension and kidney damage, possible electrolyte imbalances and what not and developped a massive fear of either having hyponatremia or some kidney damage I don't know about. I take ACE-Inhibitors and Beta blockers and drink about 2,5-3 liters of liquids a day (mostly tea and water). My urination habits vary from normal, to relatively low volume of urine to high volume of urine despite little variance in the amount I drink. Should I be worried or am I just overreacting.

[Gallowglass]

You shouldn't be worried. People with far, far worse hypertension and exercise habits who never make any lifestyle changes often live for decades. At 29 you're still young. But it's worth getting your kidney examined at earliest convenience, just for peace of mind.

[ZanVaelius]

You shouldn't be worried. People with far, far worse hypertension and exercise habits who never make any lifestyle changes often live for decades. At 29 you're still young. But it's worth getting your kidney examined at earliest convenience, just for peace of mind.

I will, though after today I doubt anything will appear on them, which is good. While going through my medical data today (was looking for my scoliosis papers) I was able to find a complete blood count I took two years ago. It was to rule out Diabetes so I did not realize the doctor also ordered electrolytes and creatinine to be checked. Turns out two years ago my creatinine and electrolyte levels were also perfectly normal so given the fact that since (Well... more like a year, and a slight bout of depression that involved me eating more junk food than I should have, which I regret now, but oh well, later) I've changed my eating and exercise habits for the better, lost a lot of weight and improved my BP even my anxiety riddled mind tells me: Yeah... chances of any kidney damage are basically 0.